PHOENIXVILLE — The slow starts of games are becoming quite maddening for Spring-Ford girls lacrosse coach Amy Short, but at the same time, the final results have been just fine thus far in the Pioneer Athletic Conference season.

The Rams’ slow starts continued Friday afternoon against Phoenixville at Washington Field. However, Spring-Ford recovered well enough to complete the day with a 19-7 victory over the Phantoms in an inter-divisional matchup.

Sasha Wozniak scored five goals, and Kira Gensler scored four goals and handed out two assists to help pilot the Spring-Ford attack. The Rams made up an early 1-0 deficit to lead by a 9-3 halftime score.

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“It took us a little bit of time to get going, but we have a young attack,” said Gensler. “We have a lot of strong players and we know how to handle the situation. We are all pretty confident with one another with our 7-on-7 attack.”

The Rams (6-1) produced a strong game at both ends of the field with numerous players making contributions to the effort. Phoenixville, which got four goals from Shannan McErlean, dropped to 4-4.

The Rams were able to win draws and maintain possession throughout most of the day.

“That is really important,” said Gensler. “That is definitely what we try to do. it is a different style for us, but we are working on it in practice and we adjusted to the way they played defense. It worked out, especially in the second half. They were coming after the ball. They were were doubling us as much as they could. But we prepared ourselves for it so we adjusted really well.”

Anna Charlebois, Brianna Cirino and Leann Shaw each had two goals for the Rams while Emily Coyne, Hannah Puckett and Julianna Radzinski tabbed one each.

Katherine Connelly made two assists while Erin Mensch, Chandler Jones, Coyne and Briana Barone each had one.

Aurora Snyder played the first half in goal for Spring-Ford and came up with four saves. Sami Walters chipped in with three saves during the second half.

Angela Hayde, Tara Gilroy and Zoe Bullotta each scored one goal for the Phantoms. Kira Landis, Jess Tague and Bullotta made assists. Midfielder Bailey Stover had a solid game assisting at both ends of the field. Megan Nemeth provided seven saves in goal.

“We’re slow to get started,” said Short. “Once we get going, we’re OK. We have done that for a couple games. But give Phoenixville a lot of credit. They capitalized on most of our mistakes on ground balls, passing and catching and whatever else. Something just clicks and then we get going. It gets in their brain. Luckily, we have a lot more leaders on the field with Erin (Mensch) on defense, Sasha and Kira at midfield and down low with Leann (Shaw). They keep things moving a little bit.”

Hayde scored the game’s first goal to give Phoenixville the lead at 24:13. Wozniak answered at 22:21 and the Rams reeled off six straight goals to go ahead 6-1 by the 8:06 juncture of the first half. Gensler tallied three goals in the run while Wozniak had two and Charlebois one before Phoenixville coach Aamina Thornton called a timeout.

The Phantoms’ Gilroy snapped the string at 6:58 with a pass from Landis, but the Rams ended the half with a three-goal spurt on scores by Charlebois and two by Cirino. McErlean scored her first goal of the contest with 24 seconds left until intermission to create the 9-3 halftime margin.

Short applauded the work of Gensler and her teammates.

“Kira has been so consistent and she has played for three years,” said Short. “She always has a good game. She is always on, and I have her another year yet. She and Sasha work so well together and now we have Brianna Cirino, who is just a freshman, coming up with a couple goals and being a key to our attack. We have a core of young girls playing, which is good for the future, too. I have been coaching here for three years and I have had the same players. We have consistently been able to keep a core and add to it. I have been very fortunate, and they work on it all year with their club coaches. They play year-round and in the fall and summer with a lot of tournaments. The level of lacrosse play has improved so much from when I played in the (19)90s because of it.”

Thornton felt the Rams capitalized on all of Phoenixville’s mistakes, too.

“I saw whenever we made a mistake, they capitalized,” said Thornton. “It was ground balls, passing and catching and shots. They went down, took care of the ball and scored.

“They (Phantoms) played team ball very well, but I hate to have to be so far in a hole. The mountain is hard to climb. But we fought until the end and I am proud of that.”

Thornton continues to be impressed with the performances by McErlean.

“She’s been stepping up,” said Thornton. “Her shots have improved. That’s why she is one of our captains. They look to her.”